This invention relates to a mine disposal apparatus and method which are capable of effectively disposing personnel mines, and also reforming lands to ensure farmlands after the mine disposal.
All the personnel mines are conventionally disposed by manual works. In detail, the manual work is generally carried out by detecting the mines one by one by the use of a mine detector, similar to a metal detector, fixed to a long bar body, confirming, the condition of the mine while sprinkling water, if detecting the mine, to soften the earth therearound, removing the earth by using a brush to expose the mine, and then exploding the mine by explosives.
In this way, the mines are conventionally disposed one by one depending on the experience and the six sense of the specialists. There are many cases that personnel mines, which are of a compact plastic type, are carried away during the rainy season and then embedded under the neglected paddy fields as floating mines, thereby making it difficult to detect them.
Therefore, there is proposed a caterpillar vehicle, especially, a caterpillar vehicle disclosed in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-71898, in which using a bulldozer in order to sweep mines enables the mines to be effectively swept without exposing the bulldozer to danger occurring in""sweeping the mines.
The caterpillar vehicle is provided with a front construction body operatively coupled to the caterpillar vehicle so as to move up and down through a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder piston unit, and also, if circumstances require, through an underframe rotatably fixed to the caterpillar vehicle. The front construction body has a box at least partially opening at a front side and a back side thereof with respect to the travelling direction, and the box has therein a milling drum, of especially hydraulically rotated type, which is disposed also on a lateral side thereof essentially with respect to the travelling direction.
There is disclosed that the above caterpillar vehicle rotates, as a mine vehicle, the milling drum in the opposite direction to the travelling direction of the vehicle to feed the mine in front of the milling drum, to thereby explode the mine there under pressure.
There is proposed another mine disposer in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-320199, in which a device comprising a horizontal rotational shaft and a number of flail type hammer bodies of super alloy arranged on the rotational shaft is disposed on a distal end of a derrickable and foldable arm of a heavy vehicle used for shovel machines.
According to the mine disposer proposed in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-320199, a number of the flail type hammer bodies of super alloy are arranged on the rotating shaft at the distal end of the derrickable and foldable arm of the heavy vehicle used for shovel machines; therefore, getting the hammers close to the ground and then rotating the rotational shaft causes the hammers to strike the ground, thereby causing the hammers to crush, even if the mine is embedded in the ground, the mine through its outer casing such as a case to break it into fragments without large explosion
However, the caterpillar vehicle disclosed in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-71898 has some problems. That is, the caterpiller vehicle is comprised of a bulldozer which is so constructed to sweep the mines; therefore, it is firstly limited in movement to the bulldozer to disable the position of the milling drum for exploding the mines to be changed without advancing and turning the vehicle itself, which deteriorates the small sharp turn and the speediness.
Also, the milling drum for exploding the mines get close to the vehicle main body, causing the driver""s seat to get close to the explosion location, which causes the driver to be exposed to danger, and also may cause the caterpillars of the vehicle to be damaged in the case of a tank mine having a large explosion force.
Therefore, the caterpillar vehicle disclosed in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-71898 rotates the milling drum in the opposite direction to the travelling direction of the vehicle to feed the mine in front of the milling drum to thereby explode the mine there under the pressure, thereby preventing the mines from getting close to the vehicle. This, however, causes the cut sediment to reversely cover the mine to embed the mine deeply, which may makes impossible it to surely explode the mine. In particular, the personnel mines are designed to be laid relatively shallowly in the ground to explode by a small shock, as is distinct from tank mines. Therefore, it is not preferable to explode the personnel mines while applying the pressure to the milling drum like the caterpillar vehicle disclosed in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-71898.
Also, there is disclosed that the milling drum has cutting tools and/or crushing tools especially at regular intervals on its circumferential surface; therefore, these tools catch the mines from below and then the pressure applied by the milling drum itself explodes the mines mixed in the sediment transferred in front of the milling drum. But there is not identified in detail the construction of the cutting tools and/or the crushing tools.
On the other hand, the mine disposer shown in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kbkai) No. 8-320199 has the mine disposing mechanism at the distal end of the derrickable and foldable arm of the heavy vehicle used for shovel machines such as back hoes; therefore, it is possible to carry out a forwarding (advancing) and turning compound movement by moving an arm, and carrying out mine disposal over a wide range by turning the arm while carrying out works, and also carrying out a wide range-working by extending the arm to a steep slope or a narrow place where the machines cannot enter.
However, a number of the flail type hammer bodies of super alloy are arranged on the rotating shaft; therefore, getting the hammers close to the ground surface and then rotating the rotational shaft causes the hammers to strike the ground surface, thereby causing the hammers to crush, even if the mine is embedded in the ground, the mine through its outer casing such as a case to break it into fragments without large explosion. However, such hammer bodies are poor in sediment-cutting ability, which disables, if the mines are embedded relatively deeply in the ground, the hammers to exhibit its performance.
In particular, there are many cases that personnel mines, which are of a compact plastic type, are carried away during the rainy season and then embedded under the neglected paddy fields as floating mines, which makes it difficult to detect the mines. Further, if the neglected time period becomes long, the mines may be undesirably covered with vegetation such as shrub, ditch reed, and grass and embedded with collapsed sediment such as clayey wall, mound, and bank, which requires such a preparation work as to prepare a working environment before the mine disposing work. However, the extra attention has been not given to such a preparation up to now.
Also, the embedded things include not only personnel mines but also tank mines or unexploded shells. Handling them all as the personnel mines may bring serious accidents. In the case of the tank mine, etc., having a large explosion force, the vehicle, etc., may be damaged.
Improving the mine disposal area to farmlands requires other agricultural implements, which makes the operation troublesome.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned conventional disadvantages, and hence to provide a mine disposal apparatus and method which are capable of firstly systematically carry out works including preparation works such as a vegetation work, a collapsed sediment removing work, etc, and secondly safely and surely disposing personnel mines separately from the tank mines, the unexploded shells, etc., and further effectively carrying out works of improving the disposed lands to farmlands.
In more detail, it is therefore objects of the present invention to provide a mine disposal apparatus which is capable of carrying out a forwarding (advancing) and turning compound movement by moving an arm, and carrying out mine disposal over a wide range by turning the arm while carrying out works, and also carrying out a wide range-working by extending an arm to a steep slope or a narrow place where machines cannot enter, and which is capable of surely excavating, cutting and crushing the mines embedded in the sediment, and further carrying out various works of, e.g. cutting and crushing grass, bush, mines, shrub, stumps, and tall trees, and realizing a large amount of the works, and which is capable of carrying out works of, e.g. effectively selecting the remains such as the mines and the shrub, or leveling of the ground, and ditching.
Further, it is objects of the present invention to similarly provide a mine disposal apparatus and a mine disposal method which are capable of safely carrying out detection over a wide range, and detecting mines over a wide range by extending an arm to a steep slope or a narrow place where machines cannot enter.
To attain the above-mentioned objects, the gist of a mine disposal apparatus resides firstly in that the apparatus comprises a heavy vehicle used for shovel type machines such as back hoes, a rotary cutter is attached in place of a bucket to a distal end of a derrickable and foldable arm of the heavy vehicle, the rotary cutter comprising a rotational drum having cutter bits embedded in a circumferential face of the rotational drum and being capable of cutting earth up to a depth of 30 cm or more and removing the earth on the opposite side to the advancing direction, secondly in that the rotary cutter has cutter holders welded on the circumferential face of the rotational drum, and the cutter bits are detachably attached to the cutter holders, and thirdly in that the rotary cutter is of a hydraulic motor directly coupled type, and has driving motors on left and right portions of the rotary cutter.
Also, the gist of a mine disposal apparatus resides fourthly in that the rotary cutter is attached to the distal end of the derrickable and foldable arm of the heavy vehicles used for the shovel type machines through an attachment detachably-attaching device having a built-in sliding mechanism at a distal end of a link mechanism for varying a distance between members for holding pins of the attachment, fifthly in that the rotary cutter has a left and right directionwise rotational mechanism below a portion thereof coupled to said attachment detachably-attaching device, sixthly in that a window glass of a driver""s seat of the heavy vehicle is comprised of a special bullet-proof glass, and a guard of a metal-made net body is disposed on a front side of the window, seventhly in that the rotary cutter is replaceable with a skeleton bucket by the use of the attachment detachably-attaching device, eighthly in that a sensor portion of a mine counter is attached to the attachment detachably-attaching device, or in that a sensor portion of a mine counter is attached to a side portion of said derrickable and foldable arm of the heavy vehicle used for shovel type machines such as back hoes.
Further, the gist of the mine disposal apparatus resides ninthly in that the rotary cutter is provided with a rateau, and tenthly in that the rotary cutter, the cutter bits are arranged on the rotational drum spirally in such a manner that the spirally winding direction corresponds to the rotational direction.
The gist of a mine disposal method resides firstly in comprising the steps of, by the use of an apparatus in which a rotary cutter with a rateau, or a skeleton bucket as an attachment is replaceably attached to a distal end of a derrickable and foldable arm of a heavy vehicle used for shovel type machines such as back hoes, and a sensor portion is attached to a lateral side portion of an arm, carrying out a preparation work of removing vegetation such as shrub, ditch reed, and grass by the rotary cutter, or removing collapsed sediment such as clayey wall, mound, and bank by said skeleton bucket; distinguishing between a personnel mine, and a tank mine or an exploded shell by said sensor portion; exposing the tank mine or said exploded shell, if extinguished, by the rateau of the rotary cutter or the skeleton bucket, and thereafter transporting the tank mine or the exploded shell to an explosion spot by manual works, etc.; and breaking the personnel mine, if extinguished, by the rotary cutter rotating at a high speed, and secondly in that cutter bits of the rotary cutter are replaced, and then the rotary cutter carries out farming after the mine disposing work.
There have been many cases that the conventional mine disposal is carried out by the manual work in order to realize 100% perfect mine disposal, which has provided problems from the viewpoints of the safety of the workers and the working capacity. Also, many of the working places are bush- and grass-grown grounds, which has required a long time to carry out the disposal.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 1, it is possible to turn while rotating the rotary cutter disposed on the distal end of the arm, and then operate a boom arm, to thereby cut and break bush, grass, etc., on the wastelands, and also to break and dispose the personnel mines embedded in the ground at a stroke. In particular, the rotary cutter rotating at a high speed comprises a rotational drum having the cutter bits at the circumferential face of the rotational drum and is capable of cutting the earth up to a depth of 30 cm or more; therefore, it is possible to excavate, even if they are embedded in the earth, the personnel mines, and then to deform, when the cutter bits bring contact to the mines, the struck personnel mines and then break the internal explosive system, to thereby cut the electric circuit.
Next blades (cutter bits) drag the personnel mine in the rotary cutter to thereby break the explosives, etc., into fragments with the lid separated from the case.
Therefore, the personnel mines with an electric type fuse do not explode. On the other hand, as to the personnel mines with a mechanical type fuse, only the fuses explode, but the personnel mines themselves do not explode. The disposed mines are discharged on the ground on an opposite side to the travelling direction while being separated into the cases, the lids, and the electric circuit boards, which prevents the personnel mines from being covered and embedded with mud.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 1, the rotary cutter has the cutter holders welded on the circumferential face of the rotational drum, and the cutter bits are detachably attached to the cutter holders. Therefore, it is possible to, in addition to the above effect, replace the cutter bits when they are abraded and damaged, and also to selectively use a plurality kinds of cutter bits according to the working site, e.g. a super alloy long nose type one for enhancing the durability, a short nose type one for mainly enhancing the cutting force to the hard earth at the working site, and an angle type cutting blade which is capable of cope with sand and gravel also.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 1, the rotary cutter is of a hydraulic motor directly coupled type, and has the driving motors on left and right portions of the rotary cutter, resulting in a high efficiency and a high performance, which makes it a 5,000 hr no-maintenance type one with a reduced running cost.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 1, the rotary cutter disposed at the distal end of the arm can be replaced with the other attachment, e.g. a skeleton bucket, etc., in a short time.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 2, the rotary cutter is variable in rotation direction by the left and right directionwise rotational mechanism, resulting in a minute positioning, which increases ease-of-use, e.g. a perfect disposal up to the edge of a road, or near the wall of a house.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 3, the special bullet-proof glass and the guard can protect the operator from the personnel mines and the scattering things.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 4, attaching the rotary cutter as an attachment enables trees, shrub, and ditch reed, hindering the detecting work, to be cut, chipped, and weeded. Also attaching the skeleton bucket enables collapsed sediment such as clayey wall, mound, and bank, hindering the detecting work and the disposing work, to be removed up to the initial ground. In this manner, the preliminary preparation work is carried out, followed by detecting the mines by the sensor portion, distinguishing between the personnel mines, and the tank mines or the unexploded shells at that time, and excavating the tank mine or the unexploded shell, if extinguished, by the skeleton bucket, and further breaking the personnel mine, if extinguished, by the rotary cutter rotating at a high speed without explosion, and discharging the fragments on the ground. Furthermore, the rotary cutter carries out a farmland improving work after the mine disposal.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 5, the sensor portion of the mine detector can be, in detecting the mines also, attached to the distal end of the derrickable and foldable arm of the heavy vehicle used for shovel type machines such as back hoes; therefore, it is possible to carry out mine-detection from a safe apart location, and also to carry out a forwarding (advancing) and turning compound movement by moving an arm, and carry out the mine disposal over a wide range by turning the arm while carrying out works, and also carry out a wide range-working by extending an arm to a steep slope or a narrow place where machines cannot enter. Further, it is possible to easily carry out replacement between the mine detection apparatus and the mine disposal apparatus by the use of the attachment detachably-attaching device in the same heavy vehicle.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 6, the sensor portion of the mine detector can, similarly to the invention as claimed in claim 5, be attached to the distal end of the derrickable and foldable arm of the heavy vehicle used for shovel type machines such as back hoes; therefore, it is possible to carry out mine-detection from a safe apart location, and also to carry out a forwarding (advancing) and turning compound movement by moving an arm, and carry out the mine disposal over a wide range by turning the arm while carrying out works, and also carry out a wide range-working by extending an arm to a steep slope or a narrow place where machines cannot enter. Further, it is possible to carry out effective works from mine detection to mine disposal in close association with the rotary cutter carrying out mine disposal.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 7, it is possible to sweep up and remove by the reteau trees, etc., cut by the rotary cutter at the time of the preparation work, and laid flat on the ground, even when they hinder further detecting work. Further, the invention can be applied to a reclamation work of agitating earth into croplands. Furthermore, if the exploded shell is found out, the use of the rateau on a front portion of the rotary cutter causes the exploded shell to be safely picked up and then removed in the rear of the machine main body. Thereafter, it is transported by manual works, and then disposed.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 8, the cutter bits are arranged in a spiral manner. Therefore, it is possible to provide a screw effect in cutting, and prevent bush, etc., from tangling therewith. Reversely rotating the rotary cutter provides an effect of removing earth sideways.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 9, similarly to the above work, it is possible to systematically and effectively carry out disposing and removing of various kinds of vegetation on the ground hindering the works, detecting and confirming and displaying the buried things such as mines, etc., under the ground, and disposing and removing the mines, etc.
According to the invention as claimed in claim 10, in addition to the above effect of the invention as claimed in claim 9, only replacement of the cutter bits enables a farmland improving work after mine disposal to be carried out by using the rotary cutter, which eliminates the need for using other agricultural machines.